Davide Marini, Ph.D.
Company Background
Firefly is introducing a universal technology platform for biomarker detection with a broad range of applications in life sciences, agriculture, veterinary medicine, and human diagnostics. Firefly BioWorks is a spin-out of the Chemical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where the founders developed a novel method for high-throughput production of complex microparticles. The company began operations in 2010 and grew to seven full-time employees through a combination of SBIR awards and angel funding. The company is focused on developing multiplexed assays for biomarker detection that scale from discovery to clinical diagnostics. The company has adopted a lean startup approach. The first minimum viable product is being launched and operations will be scaled according to demand.
Technology Overview
Firefly develops and manufactures next-generation microparticles for biomolecule detection. The company’s first product, a kit for detecting microRNA aimed at the research market, has just been launched commercially. Firefly’s core technology, Optical Liquid Stamping, was developed by combining photolithography (typically used in microchip production) with microfluidics. This method allows fabrication of microparticles with virtually any shape, chemistry, and biofunctionality. Using Optical Liquid Stamping, Firefly developed a barcoded particle architecture that enables multiplexed biomarker detection on standard laboratory instrumentation. Through the support of the NCI SBIR Program, Firefly developed a particle-based assay for high-throughput profiling of microRNAs, a class of molecules with enormous potential for early diagnosis of cancer.
Market Potential
Firefly operates in the global market for biotechnology tools, a market that generates approximately $70 billion in worldwide sales. Firefly developed its first product for microRNA profiling, a market currently estimated at approximately $100 million and expected to grow very rapidly. Several market surveys indicate that bead-based assays for high-throughput/mid-multiplexing profiling are expected to address a critical need in the industry and grow at the fastest rate, especially in the area of microRNA.
Competitive Advantage
The Firefly platform enables detection of clinically relevant biomolecules with an unprecedented combination of performance, flexibility, throughput, and cost. Additionally, the assay developed by Firefly allows direct detection of miRNA in clinical samples without purification. This eliminates protocol discrepancies in RNA purification and will likely lead to more reliable diagnostics.
Beyond microRNA, Firefly’s platform has been used for the detection of disease-related proteins, mRNAs, and genomic DNA. The technology naturally lends itself to simple bedside or handheld devices that can be used in routine screens for early disease detection or point-of-care diagnostics.
Financial Overview
Initial funding was provided by two Phase I SBIR awards, for a total of about $500,000, followed by a seed round of $1 million from angel investors. In August 2011, Firefly was awarded a $2 million NCI SBIR Phase II award that catalyzed a $2 million second round of angel funding used for commercial development in the research market. Firefly seeks an industry partner to adopt the company’s technology and estimates additional funding in the $10 to $20 million range is required to expand its diagnostics capabilities.
Intellectual Property
Firefly has obtained an exclusive license from MIT for use of its technology in any research or clinical diagnostics application. The company’s current IP portfolio comprises four issued patents and 16 pending applications, covering the entire value chain of Firefly products from particle fabrication, encoding and bio-functionalization, to custom microRNA assays and readout in standard instrumentation.
Commercialization Strategy
Firefly’s long-term goal is to become a trusted provider of reliable and cost-effective solutions for clinical diagnostics. The company plans to first establish a presence in the research market and eventually enter the diagnostics field. Firefly intends to grow the company in three phases:
- Selling initial products to leading academic laboratories.
- Partnering with flow cytometry manufacturers for co-marketing of products.
- Expanding the product offering to include diagnostic applications by partnering with content developers in the cancer space.
Pipeline Products
Firefly’s first product is a custom 25-plex microRNA profiling kit that can be used on standard benchtop cytometers. The next generation of products will offer expanded multiplexing, a larger set of supported cytometers, and sensitivity that rivals polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Once the company has proven the technology in the field of microRNA, it will enter the protein market, with a set of companion products with relevance in both research and diagnostics.
Management Team
Firefly has built a team of executives and business advisors with deep expertise in molecular assays, microfluidics, materials, computer science, flow cytometery, and protein science, with roots in both start-ups and large life-science corporations. The team includes:
Operational Team:
Davide M. Marini, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer
Daniel C. Pregibon, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer
Andreas Windemuth, Ph.D., Chief Information Officer
Isaac B. Stoner, Vice President of Product Development
Andrea K. Bryan, Ph.D., Director of Engineering
Directors:
Roger Dowd and Rick Ryan
Business Advisory Board:
Joseph Gentile, Martin Madaus, Ph.D., Paul B. Manning, Ian Ratcliffe, and Michael P. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.
Scientific Advisory Board:
David P. Bartel, Ph.D., and Patrick S. Doyle, Ph.D.
Firefly BioWorks
Co-Founder and CEO
Ray Martino
Company Background
Metabolomx is commercializing a non-invasive, rapid, and inexpensive breath test for cancer with the potential to revolutionize cancer diagnosis.
Technology Overview
Metabolomx has developed technology enabling the identification of lung cancer from its metabolomic fingerprint in exhaled breath, currently in a second round of efficacy trials at Cleveland Clinic and other distinguished clinical centers. At the heart of the system is a high dimensional array of diversely reactive chemical indicators that change color upon interaction with volatile species or mixtures.
Using the first generation of the Metabolomx sensor a recent Cleveland Clinic study (Mazzone et al., 2012, Journal of Thoracic Oncology) reported 85 percent specificity and sensitivity for lung cancer detection, comparable to a CT scan, the present gold standard. In the first quarter of 2012, the Cleveland Clinic and National Jewish Health Center in Denver (led by Dr. Jim Jett, Editor-in-Chief of JTO) began testing a Metabolomx sensor over 100 times more sensitive than the version used in the Journal study. The Mayo Clinic, led by Dr. David Midthun, is scheduled to begin testing in the second quarter of this year. Metabolomx’s technology will be in the clinic at the country’s three top-ranked lung care centers (U.S. News and World Report), reflecting the promise of this new paradigm for lung cancer assessment.
Market Potential
First indication: A companion diagnostic to CT scan
Metabolomx’s first FDA indication will be as a diagnostic adjunct to an inconclusive CT scan. Results from the 53,000 patient National Lung Screening Trial (NSLT) indicate that a CT scan screening of high-risk patients extends life expectancy over 20 percent (NEJM, June 2011). The study has already prompted a powerful shift toward widespread use of CT, with Wellpoint recently announcing it will cover CT screening of the enormous at-risk population (more than 55 years of age, more than 30 pack years) identified in the study. However, CT generates a large number of false positives (the NLST found 27% of the high-risk group had a positive CT). Millions of people who have a positive CT are faced with the difficult decision of whether to monitor with follow-up CT or submit to an invasive and expensive biopsy, magnifying the need for a diagnostic adjunct to inconclusive CT. The estimated market size of this first indication is 10 million units per year in the U.S., with revenue of $1 billion.
Pre-screen of high-risk population to triage who should receive CT
The financial costs of CT, risks involved with radiation exposure, and the enormous size of the at-risk population defined in the NLST calls for a non-invasive, inexpensive initial test to better triage who should be screened by CT. Metabolomx expects to gather data on more than 1,000 patients to confirm that the breath test is a candidate pre-CT screen of the high-risk population. The estimated market size to pre-screen the high-risk population is 25 million units per year in U.S., with revenue of $2 billion.
Monitor efficacy of chemotherapy
Metabolomx is gathering data to confirm that the breath signature declines when chemotherapy is effective in curtailing tumor growth. The estimated potential market to monitor treatment is 15 million units per year in the U.S., with revenue of $1.5 billion.
Correlation between metabolomic breath fingerprint and effective treatment
Metabolomx is compiling an unmatched database allowing the post-hoc assessment of whether there is a predictive correlation between the metabolomic breath fingerprint and the efficacy of a particular treatment. With each treatment often tailored to intervene in a particular metabolic pathway, Metabolomx predicts that the metabolomic fingerprint in exhaled breath will allow individualized selection of treatment.
Competitive Advantage
The technology is a five minute, inexpensive (less than $100), non-invasive test for lung cancer and other cancers, based on the VOC profile present in the bloodstream and picked up in exhaled breath. Each cancer has its own “smell,” and canines have been documented more than a 95 percent accurate in detection across stages, signaling the extraordinary promise of this new paradigm.
Financial Overview
Metabolomx has received several government development contracts, including a NCI Phase I/Phase II Fastrack award of $1.135 million. The company seeks a $5 million Series A round to reach clinical quantification of the level of accuracy of the second generation lung cancer detection system (building on the 85 percent accuracy of the first generation system) and submission to the FDA. Financial information on Metabolomx is available to interested parties under NDA.
Intellectual Property
The company holds exclusive, worldwide rights to an estate of fundamental enabling technology, including both the sensor itself and application IP. Additional private information is available to interested parties under NDA.
Commercialization Strategy
The Metabolomx breath analysis instrument will be sold or leased to the same hospitals and testing centers that use CT. The bulk of the company revenue is from the disposable sensor arrays and the balance from equipment and support. The company’s first FDA indication will be as a diagnostic adjunct to indeterminate CT scan.
Pipeline Products
The first product is a breath test for lung cancer, but tests for other cancers will follow.
Management Team
Paul Rhodes, Ph.D., CEO leads a diverse group of technology companies, which have received $13 million in DARPA contracts to develop next-generation sensory systems.
Ray Martino, COO, who, during a 20-year career at Symbol Technologies was General Manager of its mobile business ($500 million in division sales) and then CTO of Symbol prior to its acquisition by Motorola for $3.9 billion in 2007.
Sung Lim, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, is a co-inventor of the company’s proprietary nanoporous pigment array optical sensing technology, along with Metabolomx’ co-founder, University of Illinois Professor Ken Suslick.
A Clinical Advisory Board has been formed, and includes deep practical expertise in FDA approval processes.
